Intentions to Marry, 1925 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840530, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1925c contains pages 925-1356, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1021

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar A. A. Challender

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

3 July 1925

Roderick McLeay
Agnes Fleming Walker Lapsley

Roderick McLeay
Agnes Fleming Walker Tapsley
💍 1925/6676

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
30

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

1 day
2 months

D. McLeay's Residence, Wharepuhunga, Te Awamutu

6675

6 July 1925

Rev. W. J. Baber, Kihikihi

No	18
Date of Notice	3 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick McLeay	Agnes Fleming Walker Lapsley
BDM Match (98%)	Roderick McLeay	Agnes Fleming Walker Tapsley
	💍 1925/6676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	D. McLeay's Residence, Wharepuhunga, Te Awamutu
Folio	6675
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Baber, Kihikihi

15 July 1925

Richard Arthur King
Emily Winifred Inner McKnight

Richard Arthur King
Emily Winifred Viner McKnight
💍 1925/6684

Widower (7-9-23)
Widow (18-7-24)

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

48
19

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

2 days
14 days

Registrar of Marriages Office, Te Awamutu

6676

15 July 1925

Registrar of Marriages, Te Awamutu

No	19
Date of Notice	15 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Arthur King	Emily Winifred Inner McKnight
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Arthur King	Emily Winifred Viner McKnight
	💍 1925/6684
Condition	Widower (7-9-23)	Widow (18-7-24)
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	48	19
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	2 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrar of Marriages Office, Te Awamutu
Folio	6676
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Te Awamutu

17 July 1925

John Saunders
Lucy May Sowerby

John Saunders
Lucy May Sowerby
💍 1925/6695

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

24
20

Ohaupo
Ohaupo

2 years
2 years

Charles Sowerby's residence, Ohaupo

6677

Charles Sowerby, Father

17 July 1925

Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	17 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Saunders	Lucy May Sowerby
	💍 1925/6695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Ohaupo	Ohaupo
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Charles Sowerby's residence, Ohaupo
Folio	6677
Consent	Charles Sowerby, Father
Date of Certificate	17 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

27 July 1925

George Sutton Moffitt
Louisa Moffitt

George Sutton Moffitt
Louisa Moffitt
💍 1925/6702

Widower (27-12-21)
Widow (26-11-19)

Engine driver
Domestic Duties

45
37

Ohaupo
Ngaruawahia

4 days
5 months

Mrs F. J. Field's residence, Ohaupo

6678

27 July 1925

Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	27 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sutton Moffitt	Louisa Moffitt
	💍 1925/6702
Condition	Widower (27-12-21)	Widow (26-11-19)
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic Duties
Age	45	37
Dwelling Place	Ohaupo	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	4 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Mrs F. J. Field's residence, Ohaupo
Folio	6678
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

8 August 1925

Ernest Alfred Denby
Muriel Berry

Ernest Alfred Denby
Muriel Berry
💍 1925/6703

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic duties

26
27

Morrinsville
Te Awamutu

not specified
8 months

St Johns Church, Te Awamutu

6679

8 August 1925

Rev. G. Z. Robson, Te Awamutu

No	22
Date of Notice	8 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alfred Denby	Muriel Berry
	💍 1925/6703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	not specified	8 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	6679
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Z. Robson, Te Awamutu

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).